If Home Alone taught us anything, it’s that even the most determined burglars get a little freaked out when it appears there’s activity going on at a targeted house. Not all of us have the wits of a young Macaulay Culkin and access to life-sized, mechanized Michael Jordan cutouts, though.

HomeAlarmMonitoring.org, which tracks home security issues, provides some methods you can use to trick burglars into thinking you’re there.

Here are our favorites:

*TV-simulating lamps – The post suggests buying a lamp that simulates the glow of an HDTV, but we suggest opting for one that resembles a crappy, old TV. No reason to give burglars more reasons to make you think you’ve got stuff worth swiping.

*Prevent newspaper build-up – You may have canceled the subscription to your morning daily years ago, but those pesky free community weeklies can still clutter up your driveway, giving away the fact that you’ve been away for a while. Have a neighbor or friend come by and pick them up.

*Make a dog dish visible to passers-by – The “beware of dog” signs aren’t always convincing, so you can make it seem more plausible that you’ve got a trespasser-munching canine if you strategically place a dish that others can see from outside your home.

What do you do to fend off burglaries when you’re away from home?

10 Tricks to Make Burglars Think Someone is Home [HomeAlarmMonitoring.org]

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